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THE WEEKLY CONNECTION
Entrepreneurship ~ Innovation ~ Technology
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August 1, 2011
In Today’s Weekly Connection:
§ 2011 Governors Home Town Awards - Apps Due August 15th
§ Inner City Capital Connections
§ 10 Ways To Streamline And Automate Your Efforts In Order To Optimize Profits
§ Program Success Of The Week - Le Mouton Rouge Knittery
§ Getting The Most Out Of WebCATS
§ Website Of The Week - www.asbdc-us.org
§ Resource Of The Week - IRS Fresh Start Initiative For Small Businesses On 8/31
§ What's New On CenterConnect
§ Moves And News -2011 Make the Connection: Hispanic Business Expo
2011 Governors Home Town Awards - Apps Due August 15th
We are pleased to invite you to nominate your community's best volunteer projects for the 2011 Governor's Home Town Award. Presented continuously since 1983, the Governor’s Hometown Awards Program gives formal recognition to projects that have contributed to their community’s quality of life. Awards in six community population divisions are made based on six categories:
· Beautification and Sustainability Projects:
· Parks and Recreation Projects:
· Memorials and Monuments Projects:
· History & Historic Preservation Projects:
· Services & Mentorship Projects:
· General Projects:
Applications for awards may be submitted by a variety of community representatives such as local governments, schools, community organizations, chambers of commerce, community action agencies, area agencies on aging, or local job training organizations.
A team of impartial volunteer judges will evaluate the applications on need, use of resources, and impact. Information will be gathered from two sources: the application, and a project presentation to be given in Springfield. The judges will select the category winners and also nominate one project from each population division to receive the coveted Governor's Cup, a traveling silver trophy which signifies the project deemed most representative of the spirit of Illinois volunteerism. The 2010 Governor's Cup Winner was a combined entry from the Villages of Camp Point, Clayton, Golden and Coatsburg for a School Fair which provided back-to-school needs for almost one-third of the district's students.
All Governor's Home Town Awards winners will be recognized at a reception at the Governor's Mansion this fall.
Applications are now available on our website at: www.illinoisbiz.biz/dceo Use the "Community Development" link on the left hand side of the homepage, and then the Governor's Home Town Awards link. There are several changes to the process this year so please read all materials carefully. Nominations must be received by August 15, 2011.
If you should have any questions, please contact Wendy Bell at: or by phone at: 217 / 558 - 2838.
Inner City Capital Connections
Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) is a free program, sponsored by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City and Bank of America, that is designed to stimulate the flow of capital to inner city businesses.
If you have any nomination of Chicago based businesses for the Inner City Capital Connections program, please send the company name, address, city, state, zip, email and phone by August 19, 2011 to Carole Harris at
INCREASING ACCESS TO CAPITAL
Established in 2005, Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) is a free program, sponsored by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City and Bank of America, that is designed to stimulate the flow of capital to inner city businesses. ICCC is the country’s only program that educates investment-ready inner city companies about equity and other sources of capital and matches them with investors to grow their businesses and create jobs.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
· Companies headquartered in or having 51 percent or more of their physical operation in an economically distressed urban area of the U.S. or have 40% of your employees located in an economically distressed urban area of the U.S.
· For-profit corporations, partnerships or proprietorships that have revenues of more than $2 million
PROGRAM BENEFITS
· Discover a full range of financial options ranging from private equity and venture capital to debt and mezzanine financing
· Learn how to optimize business plans and growth strategies to attract potential investors
· Build networks and strengthen relationships with investors
· Obtain company-specific feedback from seasoned investors about growth plans, business models and investment pitches
ICCC FACTS
· Growing participation: Nearly 200 inner city companies and 150 equity providers have participated in the program since 2005
· $335 million in capital: ICCC companies have raised approximately $138 million in equity financing and $197 million in debt
· Connecting with investors: Over 85 percent of participants met at least one potential investor at ICCC
Increased visibility: Many ICCC participants have been featured in national and local publications, including Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Inc. Magazine, Portfolio, PE Hub, MSN Money and Small Business Television
For questions please contact Carole J. Harris, SBA Lead Business Development Specialist, 312-353-4003
10 Ways To Streamline And Automate Your Efforts In Order To Optimize Profits
Between email overload and too many tasks to accomplish in a day, how can a new or seasoned entrepreneur ensure that what's being done in the hours available is building profit, not expense? How can he or she ensure that important, revenue-generating tasks are not the ones left over at the end of each busy workday?
Here are 10 ways to streamline, automate, and stop wheel-spinning to ensure that the work being done in a business day can be optimized for profit.
1. Take your office with you.
2. Get your calendar online.
3. Avoid coverage glitches.
4. Automate business-payment methods.
5. Control your email life.
6. Create repeatable systems.
7. Get alerts going.
8. Manage by exception.
9. If it works for one, do it for many.
10. Computerize.
Of course, there's never a one-size-fits-all approach that works every time for every business and every need. But by tailoring these strategies into your startup's best practices, you can be at least one step ahead of the competition.
To read the details behind each of these Ten ideas and the entire article, please click on the following link:
http://www.portfolio.com/resources/2011/07/18/ten-ways-to-increase-profit-by-working-smarter-not-harder
Program Success Of The Week - Le Mouton Rouge Knittery
Kelly Norby left her position in supply chain and logistics with Walgreens and her home in Vernon Hills to become an entrepreneur in downtown Morris, where she opened Le Mouton Rouge Knittery, a retail knitting and crochet store.
"I grew up in Ottawa," said Norby, "so I always knew there were a lot of specialty stores in the area and I understood the demographics." According to Norby, people who knit and crochet vary greatly in age - anywhere from teens to those in their 80s or 90s.
Before making her move to Morris, Norby contacted the Illinois Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Joliet Junior College where she was able to get help with planning, market research, and financial analysis.
"The Grundy County Chamber referred Kelly to us in March," said Carol Turney, business analyst for the Illinois SBDC. "We discussed a number of options and financial strategies. We plan to meet again to discuss her business needs and plans for growth."
Le Mouton Rouge had its grand opening on July 16th. Le Mouton Rouge Knittery provides yarn, needles and notions as well as knitting and crochet classes, parties and other events. The store space includes a large classroom area that will be used for teaching and stitching. Kelly got the knitting bug about seven years ago when she began making Christmas stockings. Eventually, that interest brought her back to her roots and gave her a new career.
Getting The Most Out Of WebCATS
Use eCenter Direct to Update Your Client Database with SBA's Newly Required International Trade Data - Up until now, the sum total of international trade data required by SBA was a yes/no response. But, as you know, that is no longer the case. SBA is now considerably more interested in international trade data, including:
- The amount of gross revenue/sales related to exporting
- The number of employees engaged in the exporting aspect of the business
- The countries a client exports to
To make the capture of this new data as easy as possible for you, OutreachSystems has added the new export fields to eCenter Direct. This means that, instead of you doing all the hard work of manually entering in export data, your clients can do it for you!
Here's what you'll need to do on your end:
First, go into your center record and make sure the "Allow contacts to update their own name/address info?" option under the "eCenter" heading is enabled. (This will allow your clients to update the list of countries that they export to from eCenter.)
Create a survey just like this one that uses the built-in export milestone questions.
Create a survey request list that determines which members of your client base you will invite to take the survey (this process is discussed in detail in step 3 of this FAQ).
Note: Carefully consider who should respond to this survey. For example, do you want all clients or just those who have previously indicated international trade? What about clients that are pre-venture and not currently in business? Use WebCATS'subsetting
capabilities to find exactly the right clients to complete this survey.
Advertise the survey to your client base, as discussed in step 4 of this FAQ. You will likely want to limit the e-mail invitation to primary contacts only.
As the survey responses come in, notice how export milestones are automatically created and client records are automatically updated with the new export information.
Here's what your clients will need to do:
Upon receiving the survey invitation via e-mail, they'll need to log into eCenter and respond to it. This is what the survey will look like to your clients.
If they answer "Yes" to either of the survey questions, then they should also (as instructed in your survey introduction text), edit their company information on eCenter in order to provide your program with the specific countries they export to.
Website Of The Week - www.asbdc-us.org
There are only 5 more weeks until the ASBDC Conference in San Diego ! Over 800 have registered.
SOME IMPORTANT REMINDERS - The hotel room rate closes August 4th.If you are having any issues with your room reservations, please contactBetsy(703) 764-9850.
Early Bird Registration closes August 12th.If your payment isreceivedafter August 12th you are subject to a $100 late fee.Payment must be received by 5 pm Pacific time.
If you are paying by check, please be sure to note on the check what registration(s) it is for (full names please).
Before you register: Read the "Read this before you Register" document it contains info on how to register, cancellation policies and answers to most FAQ's.
Registration Tips1. Once you have started the registration process online, you mustcompletethe process inorder for your registration to be saved in the system. If you leave the browser open and do not finish your registration within 5 minutes the process will time-out and your registration will not be saved and you will have to start over.
2. If you need to cancel your registration for any reason, this must be done no later than August 12, 2011.
3. Remember your log-in information, if you have an issue you will need it!
Hotel, conference and additional information can all be found on ourConference webpage.
Resource Of The Week - IRS Fresh Start Initiative For Small Businesses On 8/31
Presented by the IRS Small Business/Self-Employed Division on Wednesday, August 31st at 1pm
This FREE Webinar is for: CPAs / Enrolled Agents / Other Tax Professionals / The Media
Learn about the IRS Fresh Start initiative – Help for Struggling Taxpayers - Helping individual and small business taxpayers get a Fresh Start with their tax liabilities including changes to Collection policy for, Lien filing threshold, Lien withdrawals, Installment Agreements and Offers in Compromise
Click on this link to register: http://www.visualwebcaster.com/IRS/80823/reg.asp?id=80823
For General information: Visit www.irs.gov and search Webinars for information on other programs available.
What's New On CenterConnect
This week on CenterConnect you will find the latest SBA Lenders Performance listforFiscal Year 2011, covering the period from 10/1/10 to6/30/11.
Moves And News -2011 Make the Connection: Hispanic Business Expo
IHCC invites you to connect at the 2011 Make the Connection! Hispanic Business Expo featuring the HACE Career Conference. As one of the country's largest events for Hispanic businesses and professionals, this one-day expo includes free business and career workshops, an opportunity to network with key leaders and decision makers and an exhibition forum of some of the nation's largest corporations and Hispanic-owned businesses.
Workshops Include:
· Access to Capital
· Doing Business With the Government
· Enticing the $1 Trillion Latino Market
· How to do Business with Corporate America
· How to Start Your Business
· Social Media: How to Leverage Online Tools to Expand Your Business
· Strategic Planning For Growth and Success
· Cómo Empezar Su Negocio (How to Start Your Business-In Spanish)
· Acelere Sus Ventas y Ganancias (Increase Your Sales & Earnings-In Spanish)
· Doing Business with Transportation
For more details on each workshop visit the Hispanic Business Expo Website.
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The WEEKLY CONNECTION is distributed by the Illinois SBDC and the DCEO Office of
Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology each Monday to the members of the DCEO
Illinois SBDC Network to provide these service delivery partners with regular updates
on small business issues, opportunities and resources. If you have information you would
like to share with the Network please e-mail to . Please feel free to
forward this update to any other interested resource providers and key stakeholders.
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